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Are "animal welfare" supporters indistinguishable from the animal exploiters they oppose? Do reformist measures reaffirm the underlying principles that make animal exploitation possible in the first place? In this provocative book, Gary L. Francione argues that the modern animal rights movement has become indistinguishable from a century-old concern with the welfare of animals that in no way prevents them from being exploited.

Francione maintains that advocating humane treatment of animals retains a sense of them as instrumental to human ends. When they are considered dispensable property, he says, they are left fundamentally without "rights." Until the seventies, Francione claims, this was the paradigm within which the Animal Rights Movement operated, as demonstrated by laws such as the Federal Humane Slaughter Act of 1958.

In this wide-ranging book, Francione takes the reader through the philosophical and intellectual debates surrounding animal welfare to make clear the difference between animal rights and animal welfare. Through case studies such as campaigns against animal shelters, animal laboratories, and the wearing of fur, Francione demonstrates the selectiveness and confusion inherent in reformist programs that target fur, for example, but leave wool and leather alone.

The solution to this dilemma, Francione argues, is not in a liberal position that espouses the humane treatment of animals, but in a more radical acceptance of the fundamental inalienability of animal rights.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In legal theory, Francione notes, "Animal welfare, unlike animal rights, rests on the notion that animals are property and that virtually every animal interest can be sacrificed in order to obtain `benefits' for people." Animal welfare is rather like "wise use"--i.e., eat animals, experiment on them, but try to avoid "unnecessary" suffering. As Francione says, "I do not think that we can meaningfully speak of legal rights for animals as long as animals are regarded as property." Francione follows his 1995 book, Animals, Property and the Law, with a scholarly, sometimes dense but generally compelling argument that the modern animal-rights movement is substantially one for animal welfare that ignores the question of whether animals have inherent rights. Even the more radical animal advocates dismiss the idea of rights as a utopian concept without immediate practical application. Discussing the dichotomy and the blurring of the issues, the book sometimes becomes redundant, both in its reiteration of the stands of prominent animal rights activists and in its analyses of definitions, legal and otherwise. The points of contention are multifaceted and occasionally confusing, but that complexity is clarified somewhat by the addition of imaginative anecdotes. As a Rutgers law professor and codirector of the Rutgers Animal Rights Law Center, Francione is clearly trying to affect public policy, but a more accessible book would have given him a better chance to affect public opinion as well.

Review

"Francione cogently argues that the Animal Liberation Movement, though using rights rhetoric and espousing the eradication of animal exploitation, actually represents a new, self-defeating welfarism because its tactics embody the animal welfare position. Consequently, the plight of animals is worse than it was twenty years ago." Choice

"[A] must-read for those teaching animal ethics and for any laboratory animal specialist wanting to obtain a deeper understanding of the Animal Rights Movement." Lab Animal

"Gary Francione's work is both refined and exhaustively documented. [He] makes a strong case for viewing the animal rights position as both realistic and practical.... This is, in itself, a major contribution to the literature and one that will change the course of debate over animals." Michael Fox, Professor of Philosophy, Australian National University, Faculty of Arts

Top customer reviews

Although a bit repetitive at times, this book gives a formidable overview and intellectual discussion of animal rights and how it differs from animal welfare. The hypocrisies of various shibboleths of the latter are argued by the writer, Gary Francione, who is certainly one of the foremost proponents of animal rights in the world. The book is academic but is accessible for the lay person. It is hard-hitting as well as motivating. Although it was written some time ago, the arguments haven't become outdated but remain of current concern.

This book is marvelous. Gary Francione not only talks the talk, but walks the walk. As a fellow ethical vegan, I associate with him because the only way to stop animal abuse is to completely abolish ALL animal use. All the animal "rights" organizations might make some changes, like giving egg-laying chickens 2 more inches in their cages that they share with other chickens with not enough room to spread their wings or even stand up. If human animals were treated like non-human animals used in the food industry, entertainment industry, fur and leather industry and last, but not least, in laboratory experiments, this treatment would be considered torture. I not only recommend this book, but all of Gary Francione's books. If you truly love animals and are an ethical vegan already, you can become even more committed to the animals by spreading the word to abolish ALL use of non-human animals. By the way, stop throwing your money away by sending money to animal welfare organizations. There are more people eating meat today than ever before, and zoos, circuses, rodeos, etc. are not going anywhere because animals have no rights, very similar to slavery.

This treatise is so enlightening! The author explores the facts of animals' lives in our culture and how groups propose to help these poor creatures. He shows us why what most of us do (send money to so-called animal rights groups) is not only useless to mend the situation, but is counter-productive and does not lead to the betterment of animals' lives. Indeed, their lives have only become more horrific. We need to create a revolution based on the moral value of all creatures! Read it and learn - and ACT!

If you have embraced the idea that all sentient beings have fundamental rights--particularly the right not to be used exclusively as a resource--and have made the step to advocating on their behalf, this is the most important book you will ever read on the subject. Gary L. Francione's _Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement_ literally woke me up and gave me the resources I needed to avoid the seriously harmful strategy of animal welfare and new welfare. Before reading it, I took part in "bigger cages" campaigns, thought that such advocacy was helpful in the short term and had a very strong desire to continue to do so. After reading Francione's extremely compelling theoretical arguments, empirical evidence and well evidenced practical implications of different advocacy methods, I had no choice but to reject welfarism and new-welfarism in favor of a clearly defined concept of animal rights. In a nutshell, Francione's central thesis in _Rain Without Thunder_ is as follows:In everyday language with respect to human animals, the word "welfare" has very good connotations. However, in the areas of _law_ and _institutional policy_ with respect to non-human animals, words like "welfare," "humane," "care," "unnecessary suffering," and so on only mean _one_ thing. Namely, they mean that the interests of non-human animals will be protected only to the extent necessary to exploit them in an economically efficient manner. For example, in law and policy, the welfare of a pig not to starve is protected because it is necessary to feed the pig in order to get her or his meat. The same is necessarily true of every animal welfare law and regulation. Therefore, any advocacy that attempts to achieve animal rights and the abolition of animal exploitation in the long-term by using the supposedly short-term strategy of trying to pass welfare regulations achieves only _one_ thing. Namely, if those measures are implemented, it will be further ensured that the only interests of non-human animals that will ever be protected are those that are required to exploit them efficiently. In other words, the supposed "success" of implementing a welfare measure only further ensures that the interests of other animals that are not required to exploit them efficiently will *always* be violated in the most abhorrent ways imaginable. In short, welfare measures *only* harm non-human animals and never help them.Again, before I read Francione's arguments and evidence, I found his claim to be counter-intuitive. If this describes your views on the subject, for the sake of non-human animals who are exploited everywhere, I urge you to read and seriously consider _Rain Without Thunder_. Francione offers an excellent practical alternative to welfarist advocacy that, if followed, will further the rights of other animals on a workable *incremental* basis. As an animal rights advocate, I am extremely grateful that this book exists.

Rain Without Thunder is a penetrating look at howanimal rights activism without a clear understandingof important philosophical differences between animal rights and animal welfare has led to ineffective strategies which, Francione argues, serve only to more deeply entrench the speciesist paradigms that lead to animal oppression. Francione's insights are important not only for animal rights activists, but for everyone working for social justice. The first truly original animal rights book I have seen in a long time. Read it!

In "Rain Without Thunder," Francione discusses the emergence of "new welfarists" who are doing the animals more harm than good. He meticulously lays out why animal welfare cannot lead to animal liberation. And argues a need for change. This book is a must read for all animal rights activists. Unfortunately you won't see it carried by mainstream "animal rights" (which GF calles the "new welfarists")organizations, because it is much too controversial!